


Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.

by Shipsandficsandotpsohmy



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Getting Together, M/M, Pining, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Shy Steve Rogers, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:07:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29590461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shipsandficsandotpsohmy/pseuds/Shipsandficsandotpsohmy
Summary: Steve Rogers has never been lucky in love because, according to him, nobody wants to date someone they can step on who has more pent up rage than there are people to fight, and crippling social anxiety. However, when he develops a crush on the gorgeous Bucky Barnes in one of his classes, is this his chance to finally get lucky? (The answer is a resounding yes).
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 6
Kudos: 54





	Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely love shy, socially awkward Steve and the stucky fandom needs more of that, so that’s what I wrote. This is basically just a self indulgent Coffee Shop AU with Steve and Bucky being adorable. I hope you enjoy it and it would make my day if you would leave a comment telling me what you thought. Anyway, happy reading!

Steve Rogers has never been lucky in love. It’s a fact that he’s bemoaned, resisted, and ultimately accepted. When he was younger, around middle school age when everyone seemed to acquire a boyfriend or girlfriend for the first time, he was too sick most of the time to even be at school. And then when he moved on to high school, he quickly figured out that no one wanted a guy they could step on, and that’s exactly what Steve was and still is. Because of his shitty immune system, he had one growth spurt in middle school that only gave him a few inches and that was it; so through high school he was a 5’3 asthmatic with more pent up rage than he knew what to do with, not to mention suddenly acquiring crippling social anxiety that left him red in the face when trying to talk to any and all prospective love interests. In all honesty, he has stayed the same four years later. So here he is, in his sophomore year of college, still 5’3, fortunately with a better control on both his asthma and his inexplicable rage against the world, no boyfriend or girlfriend to speak of, and a big fat impossible crush on one Bucky Barnes.

Now, who the hell is Bucky? This is exactly what Steve’s friends Natasha and Sam asked the first time Steve mentioned Bucky with a love sick look on his face. James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes is only _the_ hottest and nicest guy Steve has ever met in his life. He has gorgeous shoulder length hair that Steve just wants to run his fingers through or even pull, eyes like the ocean during a storm that Steve desperately wants to paint, and the most adorable smile that makes his eyes crinkle up in the cutest way possible. The first time Steve saw him in their shared World War II history class, he was rendered speechless. Which honestly didn’t really affect his plans of approaching Bucky since hell would have to freeze over before he would even consider talking to him. Yes, yes, yes, he knows that if he wants to get to know Bucky or even ask him out on a date, that he has to talk to him, but honestly where is the fun in that? It’s much more enjoyable silently pining from afar and dying a little inside every time he sees Bucky, than having to experience his heart getting broken. 

__And no, he’s resolved not to be convinced otherwise. Natasha and Sam have already tried after they got too annoyed hearing for the 50th time about Bucky and his adorable smile, and his beautiful laugh- “yes we’ve heard about his “amazing” biceps, Steve”- and just generally how in love with him Steve is. They told him to just woman up (let's be honest, this is the correct version of the statement) and ask him out after class, but Steve adamantly refuses to do such a thing because he knows how that would go. He would approach Bucky, probably trip or do something equally as embarrassing, and stutter his way through asking him out with a tomato red face. Then, after Bucky inevitably rejects him, he would run away to nurse his stupid broken heart. So, as one can see, Steve would rather not. Which is extremely ironic, considering what he’s about to do._ _

__*****_ _

__It’s an average Wednesday in December, and normally Steve would be safely tucked away in his cozy -shoe box sized- dorm room, trying to catch up on studying- more like catching up on the latest season of Father Brown-, and not standing outside of the coffee shop ‘The Brooklyn Barista’ in the freezing cold. The reason for him freezing his ass off outside of a _very_ millennial looking coffee shop? Well, don’t fret, it is very good news! Steve is officially going to try to ask Bucky out. Yes, he knows that this is a complete 180 from his original plan which was never to talk to Bucky at all, but then something incredible happened the week before that changed his mind; he actually had a coherent conversation with the man of his affections. __

____In their World War II class, they don’t have assigned seating, but Steve usually sits in the same seat every day; one that's far enough away from Bucky that there’s no chance of embarrassing himself. But unluckily that day he had an asthma attack on the way to class which made him late. Once he got to class, 15 minutes late unfortunately, the last available seat was of course next to Bucky. So, cursing his luck, he shuffled over, slid into the seat, and resolutely did not look at Bucky. He figured that he could get through this one class of awkwardness on his part and then continue crushing on Bucky from across the room for the rest of the year. Slightly bolstered by this thought, he took out his notebook and tried to concentrate on the warmup their professor had assigned. However, this slightly flawed plan was foiled when Bucky turned to him, offered his hand and, with a blinding grin, said, “Hey, I’m Bucky.”_ _ _ _

____Steve froze like a deer in headlights and just blinked up at Bucky, not knowing what to say or do. Being the nice person that he is, Bucky let Steve take his time processing what he had just said and patiently waited with his hand still outstretched for Steve’s brain to reboot. Steve, however, like the completely love struck idiot he is, didn’t get the message and just continued gaping at Bucky._ _ _ _

____“Oookay, well, it's nice to meet you.” Bucky said, slowly lowering his hand, his grin starting to fade. At the realization that he never actually answered Bucky, Steve shook his head to clear himself and exclaimed, “Fuck, I’m so sorry, my brain just froze for second. My name’s Steve.” Holy shit, could he get even more awkward? Out of all the times he would have loved to disappear from a social situation, this would be his top pick. He always thought it would be a bad asthma attack that would kill him, but no, it looked like he was going to die of utter embarrassment._ _ _ _

____Bucky visibly brightened and replied with “Oh, okay, cool! Well, it is _very_ nice to meet you Steve. I think I’ve actually seen you around on campus before. You’re friends with Natasha Romanoff, right?”_ _ _ _

____“Y-yeah, I am. Are you?” Steve was thrown off by the sudden change in topic and was wary of where Bucky was going with this. Usually when guys ask Steve about Natasha, they’re only trying to get information about her through him. He desperately hoped that wasn’t what was happening._ _ _ _

____Bucky leaned back in his chair and shrugged. “Not really, we just share a Russian Lit class. She’s very pretty isn’t she?” Oh. Of course. Yeah, no, that made perfect sense. Bucky was interested in Natasha. Steve should have known that, because why would perfect Bucky, the probably love of Steve’s life, be interested in guys? No, no, no, it was fine, Steve was fine. Really, Steve was _fine_ ! Just because he just got his heart crushed in the matter of seconds, doesn’t mean he’s not fine. Busy with his internal struggle, Steve didn’t notice that Bucky was still talking._ _ _ _

____“-could introduce us? Because my friend Maria has _the _biggest crush on her. It’s honestly getting kind of annoying so I promised her that I would try to set them up if she would stop talking about her. I tried to tell her that she doesn’t even know if Natasha’s straight, but-” Woah, woah, woah, wait up a minute. So Bucky didn’t like Natasha? So Steve still had a tiny chance after all?___ _ _ _

______Steve held up his hand, interrupting Bucky’s rant about how annoying his friend Maria was being and asked in disbelief, “Wait, so you’re not interested in Nat?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“What? Oh, no, no, no. She’s not exactly my type, if you know what I mean.” Bucky gave Steve a significant look, willing him to understand._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Uh, yeah, sure. Um, just for clarification, what _do_ you mean?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Bucky stared at him with a slightly bemused look on his face. “I just mean that the fact that I’m gay as fuck might be a slight problem if she would want a relationship.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh.” _Oh indeed._ That was fantastic! Now at least Steve wouldn’t be a walking stereotype and get his heart broken by a straight guy.___ _ _ _

________Bucky suddenly looked very awkward and hesitantly said, “Uh, I hope that’s not a problem. It would be a damn shame if you turn out to be a homophobic asshole.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Steve’s eyes widened and he rushed to reassure Bucky that that was the exact opposite of what he meant. “Oh, no, that’s not a problem at all. I’m actually bi, if that makes you feel better.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Bucky visibly relaxed, his mouth settling into a grin. “Trust me, that makes me feel a _lot_ better.”___ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Huh?” Steve was even more confused now than before. What in the world did _that_ mean?___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Bucky just shook his head and said with an even bigger grin, “Don’t worry about it.” Steve was now officially majorly confused. Was Bucky _flirting_ with him? No, that was surely not right because why on earth would Bucky be interested in Steve?___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________However, the rest of the class passed in the same vein and by the end, Steve was half convinced that Bucky was in fact flirting with him. The one thing that he knew for certain was that although he hadn’t gained any new knowledge about World War II from that class, he did gain some hope that if he ever asked Bucky out, it might not be an outright rejection._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________*****_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Bringing himself out of his thoughts, Steve momentarily stops his pacing to peak in through the window and curses his treacherous heart that is going 100 miles per hour at the mere sight of Bucky. He’s absolutely fucking terrified and is half tempted to go back to campus with his metaphorical tail between his legs, but, he’s going to do it. He’s going to go into the place where Bucky works on Wednesdays, Fridays, and the occasional Saturdays- don’t ask how Steve knows this- and ask him out. Ever the man with a plan, he even formulated an idea on exactly how he’s going to go about it. See, he doesn’t want what happened last week to happen again -where his mind completely blanked- so he came up with a completely engenius plan. He made flashcards with a little outline of what he wants to say on them, just in case. Okay, so he knows it’s kind of a stupid idea, but it’s better than just winging it, right? At least this way, he’ll have some guidance on what to say and will hopefully not fuck up _too_ badly.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________So, with a final prayer that everything will go alright, Steve yanks the door open and rushes inside before he can lose the nerve. The inside of the ‘The Brooklyn Barista’ is nice and cozy and is thankfully not sterile in the way that other places like Starbucks and Pete’s are. As it’s a Wednesday afternoon, there aren’t any patrons inside and absolutely no one is waiting in line. Steve anxiously walks up to the counter, trying to stave off the shaking in his hand and making sure his breathing is not getting too fast. He definitely _does not_ want to have an asthma attack right now. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Bucky is busy cleaning something at the counter and doesn’t immediately take notice of Steve hovering right in front of him, so Steve takes the opportunity to appreciate the sight of the beautiful man before him. Unfortunately seeing Bucky up close again just serves to show Steve once again just how dumb his plan is. He doesn’t know why he thought this was a good idea; Bucky would obviously never be into _him_ even if he had flirted with him last week. Starting to doubt himself, Steve deliberates on whether to leave or just not do this at all for that matter, when Bucky glances up and his face lights up with a grin once he sees Steve._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“Oh, hey Steve! How are you doing?” he asks, joy obvious in his voice. “I’m surprised to see you here.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“H-hey Buck, I’m doing alright. Yeah, uh, a friend recommended this place to me so I thought I’d check it out. Anyway, um, how are you?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“Oh, I’m doing much better now that you’re here,” Bucky easily responds with a flirtatious grin._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________And how the fuck is Steve supposed to respond to that? Steve would definitely be having an easier time asking Bucky out if he didn’t say such perplexing and flirtatious things that make Steve’s heart do a little jig in his chest and his cheeks feel like they are on fire._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Flustered, Steve blurts out “Coffee!” and immediately winces at how loud and abrupt that was. Shit. That was not how he wanted that to go and that was _definitely_ not what he wanted to say. ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Slightly taken aback, Bucky blinks at Steve for a minute before grinning easily once again and saying “Sure thing. What would you like? Wait, wait, no, let me guess. You probably drink your coffee as sweet as you are, huh?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________God damn it, doesn’t Bucky know what those lines do to Steve? He’s never been good in social situations, but Bucky somehow has the ability to reduce him to a melting pool of butterflies, red cheeks, and a blank mind._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Steve lets out a nervous laugh and glances at the menu, deciding to go with a simple hot chocolate. “Um, I also wanted to ask you something. I mean, only when you have time of course.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Bucky looks up at him with a look of concern from where he is beginning to prepare Steve’s drink. “Yeah, sure. You can ask me anything Stevie; it’s nothing bad though, is it?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________“I mean, _I_ don’t think it's anything bad, but you might feel differently.” ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Bucky turns back to making Steve’s drink with a perplexed look on his face and remarks, “Alright, I don’t really know what you mean by that, but I trust you.” He finishes the drink with a flourish and carefully sets it in front of Steve. “Alright, what do you want to ask me?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________“O-okay, um, fuck, hold on a minute.” Steve holds up a finger and rummages through his pocket to access his flashcards. He, with a bit of difficulty, manages to pull out the right flashcard and stares at it for a minute, trying to formulate his thoughts into how he wants to start. Bucky, to his credit, just rests his head in his hands and stares at Steve fondly, patiently waiting for him to begin._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________“Um, okay, so the thing is, I’ve had a really big crush on you for a month now, a-and I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date. With me, that is. But, if you don’t want to, that’s also cool. I mean, obviously you don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to.” Steve waits with bated breath and trembling fingers for Bucky to respond to the deluge of information Steve just dumped on him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Bucky’s reaction is _definitely _not what Steve had expected. Steve had expected pitying looks, outright rejection or even an apologetic decline which would honestly have been the worst outcome. Instead, Bucky just tips his head back in laughter. Seeing Bucky laugh at his offer of a date, laugh at _him_ , Steve’s heart sinks to the ground and he swears he can hear his heart crack right in the middle. “O-okay, obviously this was a bad idea, so I’ll just go now. I’m sorry for asking. I’ll see you around Bucky.” Steve quickly turns to leave, trying to quell the waterfall of heartbroken tears that are threatening to run down his face and the pain in his chest from his heart having just split in two._____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________He doesn’t get very far however, before Bucky grabs his arm and spins him around, suddenly looking quite remorseful._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________“Wait, Steve, where are you going? Why are you leaving?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Although Steve has admittedly never been good in social situations, especially around someone he likes, he’s always been great with expressing himself when he’s angry, and boy is he ever angry. “What do you mean, why am I leaving? You just laughed at me and rejected me, so why on earth wouldn’t I leave?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________Bucky’s face falls as he realizes how that must have looked and he gives Steve a guilty look. “Wait, Stevie, no. You’ve got it all wrong sweetheart. I’m laughing because I’m _happy_ , because I never thought you would be interested in me. Honestly, I’ve been interested in you since I first saw you in class.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Uh, what? Did Steve just hear him correctly? Did Bucky just say that he's interested in Steve too? Did Bucky just call him _sweetheart_ ? Fuck, what does he do now? He hadn’t prepared a card for this; he’d just prepared for rejection! Steve’s mind goes completely and totally blank and he just stares at Bucky with a ‘deer caught in headlights’ look on his face. “Uh, I um… I don’t have a card for.. this situation.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________A fond smile breaks out across Bucky’s face as he reels Steve in for a tight hug and whispers into Steve hair, “You are so fucking adorable Steve.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________Oh. _Oh_ okay, this is nice. Bucky is very warm and his chest is solid underneath Steve; he immediately melts against Bucky, wishing he could stay like this forever. They stay like that for a pleasant moment until Bucky pulls away and tucks a stray piece of hair behind Steve’s ear. “Hey, give me your phone so I can give you my number.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________Steve offers his phone to Bucky with fumbling fingers and happily watches as Bucky gives in his number. Once Bucky hands it back, a quick glance at the screen shows that he has to leave if he doesn’t want to be late for his next class. “I should probably get going now. I have to get to class and I don’t want to be late but I’ll text you later.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________________After Bucky nods reassuringly and agrees to contact Steve as soon as possible, Steve leaves with a glance back to where Bucky is standing behind the counter watching him leave with an affectionate look on his face, and he feels like he's walking on cloud nine and his heart is 100 times lighter than it was just half an hour ago. Who cares if he’s never been lucky in love before this afternoon? He just got lucky with Bucky -no, not like that; that’s more of a second or third date type thing if you know what he means- and that’s all he cares about._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
